



EXCEPTIONAL CHILDREN 



AND 



PUBLIC SCHOOL POLICY 



INCLUDING A MENTAL SURVEY OF THE 
NEW HAVEN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS 



BY 
ARNOLD GESELL, PH.D., M.D. 

PROFESSOR OF CHILD HYGIENE 

DIRECTOR OF UNIVERSITY PSYCHO-CLINIC 

YALE UNIVERSITY 




NEW HAVEN 
YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS 

LONDON • HUMPHREY MILFORD • OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS 

1921 



PUBLISHED ON THE 
ANNA M. R. LAUDER MEMORIAL FOUNDATION 



EXCEPTIONAL CHILDREN 



AND 



PUBLIC SCHOOL POLICY 



INCLUDING A MENTAL SURVEY OF THE 
NEW HAVEN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS 



BY 
ARNOLD GESELL, PH.D., M.D. 

PROFESSOR OF CHILD HYGIENE 

DIRECTOR OF UNIVERSITY PSYCHO-CLINIC 

YALE UNIVERSITY 




NEW HAVEN 
YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS 

LONDON • HUMPHREY MILFORD • OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS 

1921 



M 



:• 



Gr* 



COPYRIGHT, 1921, BY 
YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS 



©CI.A617297 



JUN 13 1921 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Introductory Statement ...... 5 

Chapter One. Mental Hygiene and the Public School 7 
Chapter Two. A Mental Survey of 24,000 School 

Children . . . . .15 

Chapter Three. Subnormal Mentality . . . .31 

Chapter Four. Superior and Atypical Mentality . 37 

Chapter Five. School Provisions for Mentally Defi- 
cient Children .... 49 

Chapter Six. Exceptional School Children and State 

Policy ..... 60 



INTRODUCTOEY STATEMENT 

This brief volume is based on a study of actual conditions. 
It aims not only to report the facts, but to give them a general 
interpretation from the standpoint of public policy. Our pur- 
pose is to furnish, concisely and concretely, a just picture of 
the magnitude of the problem of exceptional school children, 
and to indicate the lines for the development of permanent 
constructive measures with reference to these children. 

In the fall of 1918 a mental survey of the elementary schools 
of the city of New Haven was undertaken. The survey was 
definitely a co-operative enterprise and depended upon the 
generous assistance of the regular and special teachers who 
reported the data. We wish to acknowledge our indebtedness 
to these teachers, as well as to Miss Norma Cutts, Supervisor 
of Special Classes, and to Mr. Arthur Otis who rendered ac- 
tive assistance in treating the data and preparing the same 
for statistical presentation. 

Some of the allusions in the text will be found to be purely 
local in character, but it is hoped that the general reader will 
give them an algebraic interpretation. Equivalent findings 
and recommendations apply to other communities, both larger 
and smaller. We have aimed to treat the subject in such a 
manner that any school board official, teacher, administrator 
or citizen may get a comprehensive glimpse of the problem 
without undue distraction by details. Therefore the discussion 
is uniformly brief. 

We have stressed the civic significance of the problem. 
When it is once fully realized that our defective, unbalanced, 
unstable, precocious and superior children constitute social 
liabilities or assets, then we shall be nearer to the adoption of 
an adequate public policy in their behalf. Fortunately, even 
the inferior types of exceptional school children may, for the 
most part, be converted into assets for society by the creation 
of special educational measures and devices of community 
control. The solution of the problem of mentally or biologically 



6 EXCEPTIONAL OHILDEEN 

inferior humanity, lies not so much in isolation or institutional 
segregation, as in timely recognition, specialized education, 
and supervisional social control by local communities. 

For this reason the public school system is potentially the 
most powerful of all social agencies in the vast field of human 
engineering. The nation will have in the year 1930 its due 
quota of both defective and superior population. A great vista 
of mental and social conservation opens up when we reflect 
that most of these exceptional individuals are now children, 
seated in the desks of our public schools. 

By well-considered efforts we can begin in early years to 
select and train superior children for future leadership. Like- 
wise, we can give to the defectively and incompletely consti- 
tuted children the training and the external support which 
will in many instances make them amenable, and even con- 
tributive, members of society. This work of salvage and pro- 
phylaxis cannot, however, be accomplished until the public 
school systems of the country consciously adopt sincere and 
far-reaching policies. The public school is in a strategic posi- 
tion to develop these policies humanely and successfully. 



CHAPTER ONE 
MENTAL HYGIENE AND THE PUBLIC SCHOOL 

Mental Hygiene and the Public School* 

Mental power is one of our national resources. It is a rather 
intangible resource. It cannot be loaded into box cars, nor 
gathered into reservoirs, nor reported in the statistical vol- 
umes of the Department of the Interior. And yet the war has 
made us realize as never before, that this intangible mental 
resource is as real as the mountain waters which fertilize a 
valley, or run to waste in a gorge, or turn a turbine. Almost 
like water power, mental power can be conserved, diverted, 
increased if the nation so wills. In the great war the nation so 
willed. And one of the most remarkable phenomena of that 
tremendous enterprise was the process of a democratic gov- 
ernment commandeering, classifying, training and molding 
the minds of millions of its citizens. 

The whole process of mobilization on its psychological side 
was, for one thing, a demonstration of the fact that the prin- 
ciples of the mental hygiene movement are well founded. I 
do not wish to give the term mental hygiene too sweeping a 
connotation, and yet in its broadest and most positive aspect, 
this term stands for the protection of the mental health of 
individuals, and the constructive conservation of the native 
mental power of the nation. Does not the conception of mental 
hygiene then seem less shadowy and less pretentious than it 
formerly was 1 The war has given almost ocular evidence that 
the mentality of individuals and of groups can be shaped and 
energized. Propaganda has become a word as suggestive as 
"witchcraft." By propaganda you may poison, or you may 
socialize, minds by the thousand. Through posters, slogans, 

* Bead as part of a symposium on mental hygiene and education at the annual 
meeting of the Massachusetts Society for Mental Hygiene, Tremont Temple, 
Boston, January 16, 1919, and reprinted with permission from Mental Hygiene, 
Vol. Ill, No. 1. 



8 EXCEPTIONAL CHILDREN 

banners, lapel buttons, uniforms, headlines, you may build 
up prejudices, attitudes. You may even fix vast moods upon 
a continent of people. 

Psychologists were given commissions, put in uniform, and 
assigned to cantonments where they mentally examined re- 
cruits, literally by the thousands daily. Squads numbering as 
high as 800 were group-tested at one time. By the date of the 
armistice nearly 1,800,000 soldiers had been mentally tested 
and given numerical intelligence ratings. So, after all, men- 
tality is a tangible asset and may yet figure in the statistical 
columns of government reports. 

The fact that applied psychology played such an important 
part in the mobilization and prosecution of the war, and came 
to be recognized as an indispensable instrument in the per- 
sonnel work of the army, means that it will probably play an 
increasingly important role in times of peace. Already on the 
strength of the military experience, it has been suggested (by 
Professor Thorndike) that a national mental census be taken 
of all children of a given age — for example, all the eleven- 
year-old boys and girls of our country. It would not be an im- 
possible undertaking. 

We smile at this rather ambitious suggestion, but we may 
prophesy that even if the federal Bureau of Education does 
not undertake such a large-scale psychological survey, there 
is going to be none the less an active season of group testing 
the country over. The group tests, as at present developed, 
are applicable only to children in and above the fourth grade. 
There is no doubt that we shall soon have more than one group 
scale, devised to test children below the fourth grade. It is 
possible that some psychologist has already dreamt of a 
method of collective testing of large groups of babies at milk 
stations and at child welfare conferences ! It is contended that 
group testing has taken mental examination out of the field 
of the luxuries. 

Do we possess in this group testing a new method for pro- 
moting and realizing mental hygiene in our schools 1 It seems 
to me gravely doubtful. Group tests at present can furnish 
little beyond rough intelligence ratings, and will serve only to 
sift and sort pronounced intellectual deviations. The whole 
task of mental hygiene is largely individual and demands the 
development of intimate, personal methods of diagnosis. 



MENTAL HYGIENE AND THE PUBLIC SCHOOL 9 

These methods must be clinical, medical in spirit ; they must 
appreciate the complexities and subtleties of the situation, and 
should, if anything, result in a diagnosis by a group rather 
than of a group. The most highly developed technique of clini- 
cal medicine, well represented in Boston, rests upon a co- 
operative group diagnosis and in the exacting field of mental 
hygiene we may get this technique. 

The development of mental hygiene, both general and spe- 
cific, in the public schools depends upon a consistent program 
of individual attention to individual children. This program 
must be more biographical, more inquisitive and more solicit- 
ous than anything we have at present in our half -formed 
systems of school and child hygiene. Splendid accomplish- f 
ments have been made through medical inspection and school 
nursing; but the full implications of this work should be 
carried out; otherwise our hygiene remains piecemeal and 
patchy in character. The only thoroughgoing remedy for such 
patchiness is a biographical interest in infants and children, 
which will regard the total and the continuing child and be 
primarily concerned in the healthy norms of his behavior. 
This, and nothing less than this, spells mental hygiene. 

Such a biographical interest starts with the birth certificate 
and continues to the diploma. The mental hygiene of the child 
does not begin with his entrance upon school life ; it goes back 
to the basic determiners, physical and mental, of the nursery 
years. The child who matriculates in the first grade has been 
attending preparatory school for six years ; the hygienic con- 
trol of that pre-school period is both a logical and practical 
necessity. 

The weighing and measuring campaign of the Children's 
Bureau was a definite step in this direction. We should make 
this campaign an established annual event. We should build 
up a cumulative health and development record for each child, 
and into this record should be read not only pounds and inches 
but psychological observations and measurements which have 
a bearing on the mental hygiene of the child, his readiness for 
school life, and his major developmental needs when he enters 
school — his speech, his play, his movements and interests, his 
sleep, his social traits, and particularly any disorders and 
peculiarities which have already caused concern to his par- 
ents. The schedule of measurements and developmental data 



10 EXCEPTIONAL CHILDREN 

cannot, in the beginning, be very elaborate, but even a very 
modest amount of biographic bookkeeping would soon reveal 
to school authorities an appreciable minority of children who 
are in need of special educational hygiene. 

If there is indeed such a thing as human engineering, noth- 
ing could be more unscientific than the unceremonious, indis- 
criminating, wholesale method with which we admit children 
into our greatest social institution, the public school. 

The Massachusetts Society for Mental Hygiene, with the 
able assistance of its president, has rendered a definite service 
in calling attention to the importance of a more thoroughgo- 
ing health examination on school entrance.* This is the strate- 
gic period in a child 's life for a physical examination, at least 
as thoroughgoing and searching as that to which our millions 
of recruits were subjected in the hurried days of war. We have 
at any given time only 2,000,000 children six years of age, and 
we have the whole summer vacation in which to conduct the 
examinations. Let us not forget too speedily, in times of ar- 
mistice and peace, what really can be done in the field of 
human engineering if we set our wills to the task. We should 
make a searching examination for physical defects and defi- 
ciencies — that seems axiomatic. We should also develop a 
technique for recording important traits of behavior, qualities 
of mind and irregularities of physiological and mental func- 
tioning, which will point to a reconstructive pedagogy during 
the career of the school child. It is already possible to make 
an intelligence rating by mental testing; the recording of 
other traits, emotional, volitional and social, will depend upon 
more biographical methods of observation. It is for this rea- 
son that some systematic connection must be made with the 
pre-school career of the school beginner. 

We cannot, however, place full reliance even upon a thor- 
ough psycho-physical examination at school entrance. Human 
nature is too complex, and as Secretary of War Baker said 
in regard to the personnel work in the army, routine examina- 
tions tend to become mechanical : ' ' Now the danger that we 
have in this Personnel Division is that with the size of the 

* Burnkm, W. H. A Health Examination at School Entrance, Boston : Massa- 
chusetts Society for Mental Hygiene, 19 17. Publication 27. 

Gesell, Arnold. The Special Province of Child Hygiene in the Primary School. 
The CUM, London, Vol. Ill, pp. 318-23, January, 1913. 



MENTAL HYGIENE AND THE PUBLIC SCHOOL 11 

task and the frequency of the repetition of our contact with 
individuals, it is likely to make us fail to remember that each 
man with whom we deal is more than a card in the index, and 
is individually a man, that he is an individual American, and 
that no strait- jacket set of questions will reach his ultimate 
possibilities." 

We must supplement the matriculation examination, with a 
period of observation which will not relax during the whole 
school career of the child, but which will be peculiarly inten- 
sive during the first year or first semester. This first year 
should be an induction year. The kindergarten and first grade 
then become a vestibule school, where the child may be de- 
tained under a watchful semi-probationary regime which will 
discover and record his strength and his weakness. In other 
words, a child should not really enter school until he has been 
there for about six months ! This method of induction is not 
inconsistent with his also learning the letters and phonograms ; 
but it means that the prevailing zeal of the primary school be 
shifted from instruction to hygiene and that the premium be 
placed on a new type of teacher, possessing natural and 
trained powers of observation, and ability to deal discriminat- 
ingly with individual children. The well-trained special class 
teacher of mentally deficient pupils is an example of the type 
of teacher who needs to be incorporated into our kindergarten 
and first grade, as part of a program of mental hygiene in the 
public school. 

There are of course many practical and administrative diffi- 
culties, which we have not time to discuss ; but these difficulties 
are not insurmountable. By way of conclusion I will outline 
certain possibilities which seem to me to be workable, if we 
really believe that mental hygiene should be introduced into 
the public schools. These possibilities would be most appli- 
cable to a large city, but could also be worked out under rural 
and village conditions. 

1. A hygienic supervision of the pre-school period. This to 
result in a cumulative biographic record of every child from 
birth registration to school entrance. The data to be secured 
by the extension of present infant welfare agencies ; by elabo- 
rated periodic measuring and weighing days ; by organizing 
grammar grade and high school pupils to assist in the accumu- 
lation of these records ; by widening the scope of public health, 



12 EXCEPTIONAL CHILDREN 

nursing and of medicine, so that the psychological and de- 
velopmental interests of young children will be more definitely 
included. 

2. A psycho-physical entrance examination of every school 
beginner. This examination should be comprehensive, thor- 
oughgoing and in close co-operation with parent or guardian ; 
it should also summarize and develop the main conclusions 
from the pre-school career of the child and disclose those 
children either superior or atypical who most urgently need 
a specialized school career. 

3. A reorganization of the kindergarten and first grade, 
which will place the first half year of school life under sys- 
tematic, purposeful observation. The teachers, program, 
schedule and equipment and administration of this induction 
period to be definitely adapted to such observation and to a 
system of record keeping and classification of pupils, which 
will determine their educational hygiene in the subsequent 
grades. 

4. The development of a new type of school nurse, who, by 
supervision, corrective teaching, and home visitation, will 
further the concrete everyday tasks of mental hygiene. This 
psychiatric school nurse would be a counterpart of the medi- 
cal school nurse and work in close contact with her; but she 
would revolve in a different circle of problems. Instead of 
pupils with discharging ears and deteriorating molars, her 
clients would be the child with night terrors, the nail biter, 
the over-tearful child, the over-silent child, the stammering 
child, the extremely indifferent child, the pervert, the infantile 
child, the unstable choreic, and a whole host of suffering, 
frustrated and unhealthily constituted growing minds, that 
we are barely aware of in a quantitative sense, because we do 
not have the agencies to bring them to our attention as prob- 
lems of public hygiene and prophylaxis. 

5. The development of reconstruction schools, of special 
classes and vacation camps for certain groups of children who 
need specialized treatment, such as the speech-defective, psy- 
chopathic and nervous groups. Even one hospital type of 
school in a city as large as Boston could benefit a large num- 
ber of children in the course of a year. To such schools, classes 
and camps, children could be assigned for long or short pe- 
riods, and secure a combination of medical and educational 



MENTAL HYGIENE AND THE PUBLIC SCHOOL 13 

treatment which alone is adequate to reconstruct them men- 
tally. These provisions imply neurological and psychiatric 
specialists, educational psychologists and teacher-nurses, co- 
operating as public health experts in a work of mental salvage 
and prophylaxis. Only by such radical and sincere methods 
can we ever hope to reduce the massive burden of adult in- 
sanity. Expensive in the beginning, a preventive juvenile sys- 
tem of mental sanitation may after all prove to be a form of 
socialized thrift. 

6. A comprehensive system of mental conservation demands 
also that we discover and cultivate the superior intelligence, 
which is at the basis of leadership and distinction in all the 
arts and sciences of life. Failure to afford such intelligence the 
optimum environment in which to grow and to produce results 
is incalculable waste. Psychology as a science of measurement 
and interpretation applied directly to problems of school ad- 
ministration is destined to accomplish much in this field of 
mental conservation. 

7. Finally we have the great mass of children who are not 
candidates for distinction, nor victims of mental defect or 
disorder. Their mental welfare will depend, as always, on the 
traditional influences of home and school. For them, education 
and mental hygiene are synonymous. That education is most 
hygienic which provokes and promotes their intelligence, and 
which disposes them to become good citizens. By reason of 
that fact, the educators influence the ultimate mental vigor of 
the nation. Here lie the greatest of all possibilities in the field 
of mental engineering, because the great mass of children can 
be shaped and swayed by the methods of mass education obe- 
dient to the laws of mass psychology. Unconsciously applying 
those laws, we have woven about our flag and the mere name 
of our country noble impulses of patriotism which leap to ful- 
fillment in times of war. We can consciously apply those same 
powerful laws of group mentation to the less dramatic but 
more permanent times of peace. We need not scorn the meth- 
ods of publicity, of advertising, and of association by emo- 
tional contiguity. Let us in a new way bring posters, slogans, 
moving pictures, group psychology and multiple suggestion 
into the technique of public school education. Guided and con- 
trolled by broad-minded experts in applied psychology and 



14 EXCEPTIONAL CHILDEEN 

education, these large impressionistic methods of mental con- 
trol may lift onr growing generation of citizens to a higher 
level of civilian morale. 



CHAPTER TWO 
A MENTAL SURVEY OF 24,000 SCHOOL CHILDREN 

When is a school child exceptional? There are a few stal- 
warts still to be found who valiantly declare that there are no 
exceptional school children, — that any child who can go to 
school "can be taught." On the other hand there are those 
who somewhat sagely say that all children are more or less 
exceptional. We can hardly take refuge behind such a shadowy 
statement. The experienced observer knows that in every 
school system there are a minority of pupils who present 
extraordinary educational difficulties, and who are therefore 
entitled to special educational consideration. Humanity, as 
well as hygiene, requires that we recognize at least the most 
radical individual differences among our school children. 

When shall we regard a child as educationally exceptional ? 
Borrowing the phraseology of the law, an exceptional school 
child is one whose mental or physical personality deviates so 
markedly from the average standard as to cause a special 
status to arise with respect to his educational treatment and 
outlook. This is a somewhat cumbersome statement, but it is 
sufficiently descriptive and elastic to furnish a guide to 
practice. 

Types of Exceptional School Children 

The accompanying tabular classification of children may be 
helpful to the reader if it is not allowed to convey the impres- 
sion that individuals fall into rigid psychological compart- 
ments. The classification is intended to call attention to the 
wide ranges of mental variation and deviation which may be 
found in a large group of unselected children. With only a 
few exceptions, representatives of every type included in the 
classification will be found in any large school system. 

The individual differences in general intelligence are par- 
ticularly constant; probably because they are native or con- 



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A MENTAL SURVEY OF SCHOOL CHILDREN 17 

stitutional. At any rate we now expect to find them just as 
certainly as we do differences in height and weight. The range 
of intelligence differences, however, is, if anything, more strik- 
ing than that for stature. For exam-pde, in one of the schools 
of New Haven there is a little girl, Mary, age nine, with an 
intelligence quotient* of only 22; her mental status is idiocy; 
she cannot count two. In a neighboring school there is another 
girl, Jane, age seven, with an intelligence rating of 180. rler 
mentality bears the symptoms of great intellectual distinction, 
if not of genius. She has the ability to do fifth grade work at 
an age when many children have just entered school. Assum- 
ing that our units of measurement are sound in principle we 
may be permitted to say that Jane 's mental caliber is nine 
times that of Mary and almost twice that of an average child. 

The gamut of variation in any school district is not, of 
course, ordinarily as wide as that represented by these two 
extremes. And yet among an unselected group of 100 primary 
pupils one is likely to find at least one child who is definitely 
feeble-minded (unable to benefit from ordinary instruction) ; 
another who is extremely bright (ardent, resourceful, so- 
ciable) ; another who is correspondingly dull, without being 
actually defective ; another who is over-sensitive and nervous 
(with an exaggerated dependency upon others or abnormal 
emotional tendencies) ; still another child with a more or less 
serious speech defect, possibly stuttering; and another who is 
physically so handicapped by malnutrition, or otherwise, as 
to constitute both a hygienic and educational problem. 

Individually these educationally exceptional children make 
a strong appeal to our active sympathies. In the aggregate 
they place a considerable responsibility upon the public school. 
If a census or survey should prove that as many as five or 
six school children out of a hundred are definitely exceptional 
in mental or educational status, it would mean that the prob- 
lem is one of administrative and legislative importance. 
Certainly there should be a consistent public school policy 
undertaken at least with reference to those children who 
are mentally so subnormal that they cannot as adults succeed 
independently of external safeguard and support. Was not 

* The meaning of intelligence quotient is explained on page 31. It is a numeri- 
cal index or rating of general intelligence based upon the ratio between mental age 
and actual chronological age. 



18 EXCEPTIONAL CHILDREN 

Graham Wallas probably right in his recent statement that 
an educational system should be based upon the differences 
rather than upon the likenesses between children! 

The survey of the New Haven schools reveals some of the 
most significant of these mental differences which prevail 
among children. 

Method of the Survey 

Some 24,000 children attend the elementary schools of 
New Haven. By means of printed circulars and forms the 
whole school system was canvassed, from the kindergarten to 
the eighth grade, inclusive. The accompanying samples of 
these forms are in great measure self-explanatory. Forms 
A, B, C, D and E were filled out by the regular teachers. 
Form A was used to report all cases suspected of being men- 
tally subnormal. On Form B eight additional types of excep- 
tional children were reported. Forms C, D and E furnished 
facts in regard to the home and school history of each child 
reported on Form A, and also provided specimens of his 
drawing, writing and arithmetic. 

Forms 1, 2, 3 and 4 furnished additional data in regard to 
the "mentally subnormal" group. They were filled out by 
teachers who were previously selected and who were duly in- 
structed to make the simple measurements and tests called 
for. These mental measurements of individual children were 
made in accordance with mimeographed instructions; and 
although we admit the possibility of several sources of error, 
the data on the whole must be accepted as having considerable 
significance. The responses and performances of the children 
were actually recorded and were later scored by one person 
(Miss Cutts), who did not herself conduct any of these exami- 
nations. This means that it was possible to get beyond per- 
sonal impressions and prejudices and to express the mentality 
of these children in objective terms. Doll's abbreviated ver- 
sion of the Binet intelligence scale was used, so that the mental 
age of each seriously backward child was approximately ascer- 
tained. 

The diagnosis of feeble-mindedness cannot, however, rest 
upon the mere determination of mental age. A conclusive clini- 
cal diagnosis must be based upon a thoroughgoing individual 
examination, and must take into account every possible factor 



A MENTAL SURVEY OF SCHOOL CHILDREN 19 

in the development of the child. Inasmuch as 725 children were 
reported by the teachers as being of subnormal or of doubtful 
mentality, it was physically impossible to carry out the ideal 
clinical method of diagnosis. We attempted, nevertheless, to 
approximate the requirements of this method. It was done as 
follows : 

The returns on Forms 1, 2, 3, 4, were scored and evaluated 
(by Miss Cutts). At the same time an impression was gained 
in regard to the quality of the responses. The data on Forms 
C, D and E which furnished information in regard to the 
child's home life, school history, social reactions and school 
attainments were then scrutinized and also estimated. On the 
basis of these seven or eight pages of evidence, the child was 
classified as being either (a) Definitely Deficient; (b) Very 
Probably Deficient;* (c) Doubtful; (d) Merely Backward. The 
standard of probability for Group b, was made a very high 
one. 

After this careful process of sifting had been completed, 
the results stood as follows: Total number reported, 725. (a) 
Unquestionably Deficient, 53; (b) Very Probably Deficient, 
217 ; (c and d) Doubtful and Backward, 455. Any errors which 
were made in placing children in the second group, were 
doubtless more than compensated for by errors made in the 
reverse direction by classifying other actually deficient chil- 
dren as merely backward or doubtful. To the cases of mental 
deficiency arrived at by this process of elimination, we must 
add 100 definite cases now enrolled in the special classes of 
the city. This makes the total number of mentally deficient 
pupils out of an elementary enrollment of 24,000 amount to 
370, or 1.5 per cent. This figure is reasonably accurate. A 
similar census of the Meriden city schools, in which the same 
method of survey was used and in which the results were care- 
fully checked up, proved a proportion of over 1.25 per cent to 
hold true. 

* It should be understood that the term deficient in this connection is used to 
indicate feeble-mindedness, as defined by the Mental Deficiency Law of England, 
namely: "Persons in whose case there exists from birth or from an early age men- 
tal defectiveness not amounting to imbecility, yet so pronounced that they require 
care, supervision, and control for their own protection, or for the protection of 
others, or, in the ease of children, that they, by reason of such defectiveness, ap- 
pear to be permanently incapable of receiving proper benefit from the instruction 
in ordinary schools." 



20 EXCEPTIONAL CHILDREN 



FORM A 



School Grade Room . 



Directions — Report on this sheet every child in your room whom you believe or suspect to be men- 
tally deficient. Children whose backwardness can be confidently explained as being due to illness ir- 
regular attendance, lack of familiarity with the English language and similar causes are not to be. 
reported. Such children are to be regarded as merely retarded. But if a child belongs to one of the 
following groups he must be reported: — 1. All children of any age who by reason of subnormal 
intelligence are not receiving proper benefit from ordinary school instruction. 2. All children three 
or more years over age who are backward because of a mental inability to grasp school work. 3. All 
children up to the age of 9Vz years, who are two years over age and show marked inferiority in their 
school work. 

Teachers should remember that a child may look quite normal, may be of good deportment and 
have a moderate ability in the 3 R's and yet be mentally deficient, as shown by general lack of good 
judgment and of common sense. The important question in doubtful cases is this: "Does the child show 
ordinary intelligence in his work and his play? 

Name0fChild | *5 monTs" I ^ 



FIGUEE 1 



FORM B 



Grade. 



Directions — Report on this sheet all children who are not suspected of being mentally deficient; but who 
belong to one or more of the following groups: — 

1. Partially deaf (extreme difficulty in hearing teacher). 

2. Partially blind (extreme difficulty in seeing printed page or blackboard work). 

3. Speech defective (stuttering or very faulty articulation). 

4. Epileptic (a history of epileptic convulsions at home or school). 

5. Delinquent (marked immoral traits and incorrigibility at home or school). 

6. Extremely nervous 

7. Physically inferior (seriously undernourished, poorly developed and easily fatigued). 

8. Talented (especially gifted in drawing, music, mechanics, invention, art or leadership; or of general 
mental superiority). 

XT „. ... I . ■ , , I Group (Indi- I Remarks (Insert here a brief state- 

Name of Ch.ld Age (yrs. and mos.) cate by number) ment of the chjld . s specia , traits) 



FIGUEE 2 



A MENTAL SURVEY OF SCHOOL CHILDREN 21 



FORMC 

School. . . (&Qr<i&n Grade. JrrT. . Room. . .#7T Teacher . MttrTTT 

INTRODUCTORY HOME AND SCHOOL REPORT .' 1 
Fill out carefully one of these blanks for every child reported on Form A. 

Name of Child ^71 &*>ry X><- V * y Nationality of mother Vfe //'<*/, of father 9V^ //<! 

Birthday of child -*£ " ^ /— ^<? Age: /O years 2> mos. 

Name, address and occupation of father s^* VI V. X- x 

Number of older brothers and sisters O ; number of younger brothers and sisters *3 

Name, age and school grade of any brothers or sisters who show signs of subnormality 

Home and family: Note any exceptional or significant facts in regard to the home conditions, the parents or rela- 
tives. 

Is the social status of the family average very inferior or superior? 
Has the child been a problem at home? r*-<r How? 



Any reason assigned for the child's backwardness? *— <t 

Has the child been a problem or hindrance at school? In what way? 



Js,Osr\flLL0LQ^-, The worst work? -^fT**^/ 



In what study has the child done his best work? <r±flsr*lflLL&~0sA—, The worst work? 

How many years has the child attended school? Co State the age at which he entered 

each of the following grades:- Kindergarten ; Grade I — v^-r; ; // * *f*~* ; III ■; 

IV ; V ; VI ; VII 

Is the child so much out of place in your school room that he should be transferred to a special class? 

(OVER) 

FIGURE 3 



22 



EXCEPTIONAL CHILDREN 



Grade of I 
ability | 

^ I 
Reading /Vrt... 

Writing %<?. ■ ■ 

Arithmetic O J 

Spelling. 

Drawing ^t-^t . . 

Handwork %jS- ■ 

Plays and Games 

Ability to take 

directions 

Conversation 



??7 ^^f- 



~&&*£*Tn 



Make an estimate of the child's capacity in each of the subjects in the adjoining 
column. Use the average capacity of a school grade in New Haven as the standard 
of measurement. Indicate the child's ability in every case by K (Kindergarten 
ability) O (No ability whatever) 1 ^Ability of a first grade pupil) 2 (Ability of a 
second grade pupil) 3 (third grade) 4 (fourth grade* 5 (fifth grade) 6 (sixth 
grade). 



Age of playmates? 



PLAY Does the child play much at recess or outside of school? 

vigorously? ^tJls3- — Alone or with others? 

Play intelligently? \-4lLs4. • Any favorite game or amusement? 

Does he run, walk and jump normally? L^^-^Z — " 

WORK Is the child interested in any trade or any form of work at home? 

Is he able to help in any way at home or school? L^/^-«z ■ H 

Note any peculiar difficulties or defects which the child shows in his school work. 



Play 



»■ ^^r, 



UsxryA 



*> 



PERSONAL TRAITS. Underscore words and phrases which describe the child: Sluggish, Excitable, . Trust- 
worthy, Obedient, Dishonest, Cheerful, Slovenly, Quarrelsome, Unfeeling, Lazy , Affectionate, Stubborn , Seclu- 
sive, No initiative, Hard to manage, Noisy, Babyish, Neat, Fond of music, Giggling, Sociable, Inattentive, 
Moody, Lacks common sense, No application. 

In the space below supply any further details in regard to the child's characteristics, conduct or school work. 



To y. ryy Q — (Co n i/nu et£) 

FIGUKE 3' 



A MENTAL SURVEY OF SCHOOL CHILDREN 23 




FORMD 

School, .(AlTcrA, . ZlLr, ~~ Room...tfr;. 



of pupil . . . /?2.&rf3j^. ; 

Every pupU report*! on Form A is to write and draw on one o* these sheets, Caution: The teaehe 
■nwrt the pupil's rams, etc, until after the work has been handed to. The 
look at and should receiver*) assistance from the teacher. 



i pupil should have w copy or model t 



On the lira below have the pupil write his name (or attempt to 



do so}; and the name of the school which 1 



rm^riAAj g~ 



In the space below have the pupil draw a 



mem, a treir, and a house; 



and anything else he want* I 




If the pupil can write phrases or sentences have him write a letter on the reverse side of this sheet Have 
h,m wrrte to an Aunt or Uncle on "Wl,*t I m lasl Saturday". Allow 15 minutes for the letter -and give no assist- 



FIGURE 4 



24 EXCEPTIONAL CHILDREN 



FORM E 



Name 



.YDA/U£..U. School.... (&&j&)X/. Teacher TZ^.. ..A J^W*— --' 



i sheet is a su 



SUBTRACTION SCALE (Woody). Say to the child: "Every problem on this sheet is sf subtraction 
problem (A take away problem). Subtract (or take away) the smaller number from the larger. Work as many 
of these problems as you can and be sure that you get them right. Do all of the work on this sheet of paper and 
do not ask any questions. Begin." After ten minutes give the signal "Stop." Give no assistance and make 
no corrections. 



8 2 11 13 

5 1 7 8 



78 16 50 

37 9 25 



567482 o3 , 8e L 

106493 2i--l- 5 3_ 



5 yds. 1ft. 4 in. 7.-3.00081 = 

2 yds. 2 ft. 8 in. 



3 7 1_5 
T" a 



In the space below give two or three illustrations of the most difficult examples which the child can do with 
fair ease and accuracy. For example: 7-(-5= ; 723-^6 = 



FIGUEE 5 



■2 § 



^ s 



2 pi -5 

S o « 

•** ft « 

•— • «H .. 

.2 S3 ■* 

a> a> o 

® "S i? 






■§ Pi 



,93 , 1 Qj 



5 s Si O 



II 






8 -^ 



^ s 3 -4 £ ■-' 



S2?J 



.9 o r - 

a " a 

.ft 09 






>a S © Ph 




1 ■s 

te O 

.5 * 

3 3 

-t 3 o 

oo fe 



TS 


t* 




QJ 


M 


* 


o 


rli 


® 


a 












* 






-1-1 


T) 






< 


O 



2 « 



8 fe 






•Si 
■E it 



I ° 



& 



4 V> . 



r — : 

b- 






-tJ. Oj 



r D 








A MENTAL SURVEY OF SCHOOL CHILDREN 27 



Jn 



OA^ 



3L— 



FORM 3 

.7>^2uCc/>r»... 



.M,R. 



SPELLING. 1. Have the child write his name. A space is provided for this purpose on Form 2. Dic- 
tate the following sentence: See the little boy, and have him write it under his name. 3. Then give him the 
following spelling lesson, dictating each of these fourteen words: 

1 cat 2 dog 3 horse 4 animal 5 forty 6 rate 7 children 8 prison 9 title 10 getting 11 need 12 
throw 13 feel 14 speak. 

READING. Have the child read down the list of words in the three columns below. Cross out every 
word he is not able to read. If he is ten years of age or older have him read the selection beginning New York, 
September 5th. Note carefully how many seconds it takes him to read the selection but do not urge him to read 
fast. Pronounce all the words which the child is unable to make out, not allowing for hesitation more than five 
seconds in such a case. After he is through reading say: Very well done. Now I want you to'tell me what you 
read. Begin at the first and tell me everything that you can remember. After he has repeated all that he can 
recall you may say, "And what else?" But give no further assistance. Underline every word and phrase which 
he correctly reproduced. Cross out every word which he omitted or misread, and record the time required for read- 
ing:..... ff.O. seconds. Underline the adjectives which best describe his reading Syllabic (makes a pause 

after «ach syllable) Hesitating (hitches along making many unnecessary pauses) Fluent (no pauses but mono- 
tonous) Expressive (modulation and intelligence). 

ARTICULATION. Have the child repeat after you the following sentence: Go and show this man the 
little red sled coasting down the hill . ' 

Do not attempt to correct his errors of pronounciation but write them out phonetically below the words mis- 
pronounced. 



Kifr - 

cow 


It^n J 


OOWft- 

chew— 


ten 


that 


name 


lrifr 
Hill* 


-out- 


-head- 


■snag- 


fox 


cold 


lace 


come 


here 


-HGJH" 


who 


hn<; 


monkey 


one 


bird 


eradk 


she 


.pilf 


naughty- 


■"On -- 


*haU- 


visit 



New York, Septem ber 5 th. — A fire 
last night burned -three houses near the een — 
ter e f the city. I t t ook some time to -put- 
it out. The toss was fifty thousand dollars, 
and s eventee n families lost their- homes. In 
saving a girl wha was aslee p m bed a fire- 
man was -turned en the - hand s . - 



FIGUEE 8 



28 



EXCEPTIONAL CHILDEEN 



<Jt>. qj : 



W 






'Z w CU A, 



~ ^ 



I 1 ~ 1 ■« 

S .S O. C 3 

K co M < 2: 




O0 0qOo ° o0 



o 





o 


+■ 




4 























































+ 


4- 




4- 


o 






















-= 


: 5 




i 


j 








s. 






J 








+ 


+ 




+ 


+ 




















' i 


t 




+- 
1 






x 


■S £ 


: 1 




1 


? 




, 1 

■3 


c 
c 



c3 cj cj 
+ 4-4- 



§ , e.2!_£.2c=.2-2 - a| Sit: 

ooO(go c 3>Sco6<apq<<ps 

(j») > > - X K 



u£§i'a3o!S§cj: 



1 = 



I a 
£ 1 



ill 




V I s l 



eS > E 5 ■£ 




jp piup 9*inj sraeiiE autaiorpir »i 




^*^<^ TiP 




a 11*1 II 113.1 a 




CHAPTER THREE 
SUBNORMAL MENTALITY 

Mental Status op Deficient School Children 

That the 270 cases of mental deficiency revealed by the 
survey constitute a serious educational problem is clearly 
indicated by the returns. An examination of the school record 
and mental performance of these children, as embodied in the 
survey schedules, gives convincing evidence of the subnormal 
intelligence with which the school is obliged to deal. We repro- 
duce a few of these survey schedules (pp. 29-30), because they 
supply suggestive psychological portraits of their subjects. 
These 270 deficient children are by no means hopeless school 
problems, and yet they fall so decisively below the average 
standard that they need specialized educational treatment. 
They are so many mental brothers and sisters of the 100 
pupils who have already been assigned to special classes. 

There is nothing very exceptional about the ages of this 
group of children. They range from 5 to 16 (and one child of 
19), as shown in the distribution curve (Figure 12). But a 
comparison of this distribution curve, with that for their 
mental ages, discloses a striking disparity. The latter curve is 
markedly skewed to the left. If the wave of mental develop- 
ment, so to speak, had not been obstructed, the two Figures A 
and B would have been nearly identical. As it is, they only 
partially overlap. 

"K The relationship between mental age and chronological age 
is in any individual case of considerable significance. This 
relationship is expressed by the intelligence quotient or I. Q., 
— an index which is derived by dividing an ascertained mental 
age by the given chronological age and expressing the quo- 
tient on the basis of 100. Our survey measurements were only 
approximations. It is significant, however, that over 220 cases 
out of the total group of 270 have an I. Q. of less than 75. 



32 



EXCEPTIONAL CHILDREN 



Fifty cases were classified as probably deficient in spite of a 
relatively high I. Q. 

The pedagogical quotient of this group was calculated from 
the data, and appears to have considerable import, as shown 
by the distribution curve (Figure 13). The calculation was 



3 «? S 6 7 S & /0 // /£ /3 /-? /S~ /6 '7 /& /& 



■TO 



f /4 <?<=> J6 ■??> ^3 J-<? fS- J'J /& S 



SO 


























1 












: J 








,r 








s 


e* 3$ 


fa 


47 


ST 


A 


FIGI 


IRE 12 



made as follows: The teacher of the child had been asked to 
estimate his school ability in reading, arithmetic and spell- 
ing, and to score the same in terms of school grade (see Form 
C). This score was for each subject translated into the age 
normal for the grade (Grade I = Age 6.5, Grade II = Age 
7.5, etc. ) . The average for each child was determined and this 



SUBNOBMAL MENTALITY 



33 



average was divided by his actual age, giving his pedagogical 
status or P. Q. The P. Q. 's range from 30 to 85 ; but there 
were only 9 cases with a P. Q. of over 75, and the median for 
the whole group is 60. 



JO J-sr <?a *r &0 SS 60 t,S 70 ?S SO <5\T ~30 OS 



■fa 
Jo 

eo 





| 






b 






1 






* 






8 1 


Hi r-^~^ 


1 






60 
sa 
•>?<$ 
2o 

ao 

so 

o 

<?a 
30 

ea 
/o 
o 









& 


o 
















sf \ 
















Ci'JP*'^:*./? W/f 




















jrp-s°p 




















.<?s 


so 








cs 


70 


7S 


60 






% 






-?s~ 


\ 






1 






3S- S * 6 1 




&r 










1 



e -? /<? e/ s~3 sa yy e* /£ ■? ^ 







I 


*>sy/Z>£-£> iS'S - £rsysf*<?'V<>>'!-0<?/(?^ 


Cosr-*;£~<£ ■* TV <s W 


\ 

X 


s7G^. 




•F-r 






1 












\ 
















1 










^^ 



FIGURE 13 



In the same manner we attempted to derive a rough index 
of the child's social development as shown by his reactions in 
games, his ability to take directions and his conversation. He 
was scored by the teachers in these three respects, precisely as 



34 EXCEPTIONAL CHILDREN 

in his school work. The scores were averaged and the average 
divided by actual age, the resulting index being called for con- 
venience the social quotient or S. Q. The distribution curve 
(Figure 13) shows the median S. Q. to be 62; only 18 cases 
have an S. Q. of over 75. 

These three graphs (Figure 13) corroborate each other, 
and no doubt furnish a fairly accurate statistical summary 
of the psycho-educational status of 270 New Haven chil- 
dren who cannot profit from ordinary methods of instruction. 
If more evidence is needed it may be looked for in the series 
of graphs reproduced on page 35 (Figure 14). These graphs 
show the age distribution of 270 deficient children and reveal 
that 

71 children over 8 years of age cannot describe a simple 

picture ; 
66 children over 8 years of age cannot copy a diamond ; 
31 children over 7 years of age cannot read at all (only 
39 out of 270 read fluently or with expression; the 
remainder read imperfectly, syllabically, haltingly) ; 
95 children, ranging in age from 9 years to 16 years, can- 
not write their whole name. 
126 children do not respond correctly to the simple question 

' ' In what city do you live 1 f ' 
109 children, ranging in age from 10 years to 16 years, can- 
not tell time. 
The mental status of the 100 children already enrolled in 
special classes is, if anything, somewhat lower than the group 
of 270 in regular classrooms. Their average mental age is 
from 6 to 7 years, their average life age from 11 to 12 years. 

The Aftee Caeeer 

What happens to these subnormally minded children when 
they leave school ? We cannot say with statistical accuracy be- 
cause the records are not at our disposal; but we may be 
certain that it is these very subnormal children who as youths 
and as adults may pile up for society a large burden of ineffi- 
ciency, crime, vice and dependency. It is always well to remind 
ourselves that our future social problems are concretely fore- 
shadowed in the children who are now making a failure of 
school life, — the children revealed by our mental survey. 



SUBNORMAL MENTALITY 



35 






J/ ^^^ 










/igs? s e 7 a 



^W-p/^/yw 



* e & '///// M - £ > rJcx>/p?y<?/v 



z>7rsru///Vc Z>/*4t7a/V£3 




Recently we made a slight follow-up investigation of 22 
definitely deficient children who had been found in 1915 in one 
of the New Haven schools (Ferry Street). This was an un- 
usually large group for such a small school. Even so, 7 of 
the deficient children had been lost track of entirely at the 



36 EXCEPTIONAL CHILDREN 

time of the investigation ; 5 had gone into industry ; 5 had 
been transferred to other schools and 5 were still attending 
Ferry Street School. Meanwhile 7 new cases of mental defi- 
ciency had enrolled. Of the children working, one or two were 
doing fairly well; and the others were certainly in need of 
some degree of supervision. Among the latter was an im- 
migrant girl who had come to this country in 1915 and married 
before she was sixteen, with a mental age less than half of her 
matrimonial age. These figures suggest the necessity of after 
care, and they also show how the problem of mental deficiency, 
while ever changing in any school, is also constantly renewing 
itself. 

To comprehend, then, the scope of the problem of juvenile 
mental deficiency in New Haven, we must visualize not only 
the 370 feeble-minded pupils now sitting in the desks of the 
public schools ; but a hundred more who were but recently 
there and are now attempting the hazardous task of competing 
in the struggle for existence, on equal terms with their mental 
superiors. Does not the fringe of public school responsibility 
extend to these youths whose mental development was per- 
manently arrested at the level of the primary and interme- 
diate grades % 

Before discussing the provisions necessary for the mentally 
deficient, we will summarize the findings of the survey in re- 
gard to other types of educationally exceptional children. 



CHAPTER FOUR 
SUPERIOR AND ATYPICAL MENTALITY 

Other Types of Educationally Exceptional Children 

Following printed instructions, the teachers reported (on 
Form B), in all, nine classes of exceptional children. These 
returns are summarized and analyzed for sex and school in 
the accompanying table. Although the standards used in mak- 
ing the returns were not strictly uniform, it will be noted that 
the census called for only the more extreme and serious devia- 
tions. An effort was made to exclude the milder and less con- 
sequential variations from the normal. The figures, therefore, 
can hardly be taken as exaggerations, even though they seem 
to indicate that about one child in every fifteen deviates suffi- 
ciently from the normal to demand special educational con- 
sideration. 

The totals for the nine groups of exceptional children are 
as follows : 

Peixentage 
of Boys 

I. 77 or 1 in 308 : Semi-Deaf 62 

II. 183 or 1 in 129 : Semi-Blind 53 

III. 302 or 1 in 78 : Speech Defective 70 

IV. 18 or 1 in 1328 : Epileptic 55 

V. 98 or 1 in 243 : Delinquent 79 

VI. 198 or 1 in 119: Nervous 69 

VII. 275 or 1 in 86 : Physically Inferior 56 

VIII. 45 or 1 in 527 : Superior 59 

IX. 725 or 1 in 33 : Seriously Backward 

(370 or 1 in 64 : Mentally Deficient) 

Incidentally it is interesting to note that there is a marked 
preponderance of boys reported in Groups III, V and VI, as 
shown by the percentages in the last column. 



38 



EXCEPTIONAL CHILDEEN 



Of) 



BL/AfD 



(JTO) 
(7£SJ 






js. £T/L£pr/c (/e) 



z><r* 



$%r~' 



% 






(.215) 



\Z£KV 
(/S6) 






FIGURE 15 



I II III IV V VI VII VIII IX 

Abraham Lincoln 763 2 7 8 4 2 2 24 

Barnard 427 5 5 11 12 14 12 

Barnes Avenue 67 1 2 3 1 3 1 1 8 

Benjamin Jepson 303 2 9 1 1 9 6 2 22 

Cedar Street 863 1 5 7 1 10 5 7 19 

Clinton Avenue 680 1 3 7 1 5 5 3 13 

Dante 448 1 8 1 5 27 

Davenport Avenue 237 1 2 4 1 1 

Dixwell Avenue 176 1 1 5 2 2 4 2 

Dwight 528 2 5 4 1 1 16 

Eaton 726 2 4 9 1 3 5 1 13 

Edwards Street 507 2 3 5 2 5 6 

Ezekiel Cheever 370 2 3 8 5 12 16 1 6 

Fair Street 422 4 18 8 6 7 50 2 11 

Ferry Street 325 1 2 2 1 5 5 34 

Greene Street 970 1 6 11 11 1 4 18 

Greenwich Avenue 8 7 

Hallock Street 418 1 1 2 1 4 4 1 12 

Hamilton 1,547 1 9 14 2 2 6 12 16 

Horace Day 546 4 4 10 2 9 20 47 

Humphrey Street 177 1 5 

Ivy Street 884 1 18 15 1 3 11 3 4 21 

Kimberly Avenue 330 1 1 5 1 5 2 6 

Lloyd Street 166 1 1 

Lovell 557 4 6 4 3 6 8 

Morris Cove 157 1 1 3 3 8 13 

New Haven O. A 26 1 3 7 

Oak Street 177 7 2 3 2 5 

Open Air 5 2 

Orange Street 571 5 7 6 3 1 3 4 3 6 

Orchard Street 174 1 1 3 4 3 1 17 

Prince Street 773 1 8 11 6 4 2 1 20 

Quinnipiac Avenue 166 2 1 2 1 1 5 

Eoger Sherman 527 2 2 4 2 9 5 3 19 

Scranton Street 923 2 1 6 1 2 2 6 

Skinner 508 3 7 13 1 1 3 7 28 

St. Francis O. A 360 2 2 9 3 1 11 

Strong 584 3 6 8 1 3 4 8 1 25 

Truman Street 880 7 8 6 8 4 3 8 

Wallace Street 

Washington 555 1 7 6 1 1 11 16 3 40 

Webster 636 1 6 5 2 3 l' 5 22 

Welch 479 1 4 3 4 5 3 18 

West Street 162 3 2 1 1 7 

Whiting Street 19 1 2 1 7 

Winchester 815 1 7 16 1 4 3 2 23 

Woodward 350 2 1 8 1 4 12 

Woolsey 793 4 1 5 1 3 4 12 30 

Wooster 573 1 1 6 1 1 1 2 30 

Worthington Hooker 455 1 4 502 1 50 4 

Zunder 595 2 1 10 4 3 11 17 

Total, 506 Eooms 23,713 77 183 302 18 98 198 275 45 725 

Groups i ii in iv v vi vii vm ix 



40 EXCEPTIONAL CHILDREN 

These statistics reveal extensive and far-reaching individual 
differences among school children. They do not by any means 
indicate that group methods of instruction are impossible or 
undesirable ; but they do place a premium upon variety and 
flexibility of teaching arrangements. We cannot do justice to 
these individual differences without a large variety of elastic 
auxiliary devices of instruction and training. Progressive 
school administration will favor such devices. Democracy does 
not stand in the way. Only by frank recognition of individual, 
regional, racial and other differences can some of the most 
perplexing problems of democracy be worked out. 



The Relation between Social Status and Intelligence 

As part of the survey of these mental variations among 
school children we decided to compare the intelligence of chil- 
dren of low social status with that of children of average and 
superior social status. 

As representative of children of low social status were 
chosen the children living in a county home for dependent 
children. All the children in the "Home" above the kinder- 
garten were considered. As representing children of average 
and superior social status, a school was chosen which was 
considered by the superintendent of schools and his assistant 
to be the one of fifty containing probably the highest percent- 
age of pupils from "well-to-do" homes. All the pupils of the 
fourth and sixth grades were tested, together with pupils from 
the third, seventh and eighth grades sufficient in number to 
fill all available seats in the fourth and sixth grade rooms. 
The school principal was requested to pick from the third, 
seventh and eighth grade pupils of the highest social status. 
These were therefore highly "selected" while the fourth and 
sixth grades probably contained pupils of both average and 
above average social status. The number of pupils tested in 
each grade in the two schools was as follows: 

Table I 

Number of pupils in each grade 

Grade K 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Sp. CI. 

Home 14 55 26 20 .. 12 .. .. 21 

School 11 37 .. 35 3 10 



SUPERIOR AND ATYPICAL MENTALITY 



41 



Graph I 
Showing the Average Scores for the Different Ages. 



$20 
110 
100 
90 
80 
70 
60 
50 
40 
30 
20 
10 



Age: 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 




8 9 10 11 12 13 14 



40 



30 



20 



10 



Graph II 

Showing the Distribution of Intelligence Quotients 
in the Home and in the School 

_—..—_ = Home 
= School 




35 45 55 €5 75 85 95 1051115 125 135 1*5 
to to to to to to to to to to to to 
45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115 125 135 145 155 



FIGURE 16 



42 EXCEPTIONAL CHILDEEN 

Their ages were distributed as follows : 

Table II 

Number of pupils of each age 

Age 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 

Home 23 32 32 20 21 9 10 1 

School 9 24 16 15 17 10 5 



Total 

148 

96 



The scale used to measure the intelligences of the pupils was 
the 1919 Edition of the Otis Group Intelligence Scale. The 
tests were administered in the customary manner except in 
the second grade and special classroom of the "Home," in 
which cases only half the tests were used and the probable 
total score calculated from the score in the abbreviated scale. 

The distributions of total scores for the several ages of 
pupils in the two institutions are shown in the accompanying 
table and graph. The heights of the horizontal lines in the 
histograms show the amount of the average total score for 
each age group. 

Table III 



Distribution of scores for the different ages 



Home 



School 



Score 


Age: 


8 


9 


10 


11 


12 


13 


14 


15 


8 


9 


10 


11 


12 


13 


14 


190-199 






























1 




180-189 


































170-179 


































160 
































1 




150 






























2 






140 






























2 


3 


1 


130 




























1 








120 


















1 












1 


1 


1 


110 
































1 




100 
















1 












2 








90 














1 




1 




1 


1 




3 


2 






80 












1 










1 


2 


2 


4 


2 




1 


70 
















1 


1 






7 


3 


1 


4 


1 




60 










1 




7 


1 






1 


4 


1 


2 


1 


1 


1 


50 








2 


1 


4 


3 


1 


1 






3 




1 


1 






40 






1 


1 


1 




3 


2 


1 




2 


2 


1 








1 


30- 


39 






1 


5 


4 


1 




2 




3 


4 


5 




2 


1 




20- 


29 




1 


1 


6 


6 


1 








1 


1 


3 










10- 


19 




2 


6 


7 


1 


3 


3 


1 








1 


1 








0- 


9 




19 


21 


11 


4 


2 




2 


1 




















Ages: 


8 


9 


10 


11 


12 


13 


14 


15 


8 


9 


10 


11 


12 


13 


14 














Hoi 


ne 












School 









SUPERIOR AND ATYPICAL MENTALITY 43 

From these figures and graphs it is very evident that the 
scores of dependent children, presumably of parents of low 
social status, tend to be much lower than the scores of chil- 
dren of homes of average and superior social status. 

To give the comparison another aspect we have determined 
the distributions of intelligence quotients of the children of 
each institution. These values are only approximate since 
norms for the scale are as yet only tentative. The quotients for 
pupils below eight years will not be represented as these 
would not be of sufficient accuracy to warrant consideration. 
The two distributions of I. Q. 's are shown in the accompany- 
ing table graph. 

Table IV 
Showing the distribution of Intelligence Quotients in the Home and School 

I. Q.'s 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115 125 135 145 

to to to to to to to to to to to to 

45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115 125 135 145 155 

Home 12 46 46 17 15 4 8 

School 3 6 9 10 18 17 16 7 3 5 2 

Here again we see the same marked tendency to difference 
in intelligence from which we believe it is safe to conclude 
that children from homes of high social status tend to be con- 
siderably more intelligent than children from homes of low 
social status. 

These statistical results are so consistent and decisive that 
they must have not a little significance. To be sure they repre- 
sent the extremes of public school population ; but they defi- 
nitely suggest that comparable intellectual differences may be 
found in contrasting the more and the less favored districts 
of any large elementary school system. Just as we have in- 
dividual differences among children, so must we reckon with 
group differences among schools or neighborhoods, — differ- 
ences in average raw material as indicated by native mental 
endowment. Likewise some schools are much more homoge- 
neously constituted than others. From the standpoint of school 
administration, we are not justified in holding the same abso- 
lute standard for all schools, nor in expecting the same educa- 
tional output when school work is measured. Different schools 
may apparently deal with widely different grades of human 
material. 



44 EXCEPTIONAL CHILDBEN 

Provisions foe Educationally Exceptional Children 

One object of the survey of the New Haven elementary 
schools, was to suggest the outlines of an educational policy 
with reference to the important group of mentally deficient 
children. Such a policy, however, should not develop without 
due regard to those children who, while not subnormal, are 
mentally or physically of such exceptional status as also to 
need special educational consideration. We shall therefore 
make brief suggestions in regard to these various education- 
ally exceptional children before discussing the needs of the 
mentally deficient group. 

The New Haven schools have already made definite progress 
in meeting the requirements of several types of such excep- 
tional children, notably the delinquent, the physically inferior, 
the rapid promotion and the backward pupils. 

The Backward Child 

The special arrangements in behalf of the numerous group 
of academically backward children are perhaps more complete 
than those of any American city of similar size. Some thirty- 
five special teachers are attached to as many buildings giving 
individual instruction to pupils who are in academic arrears. 
This tutorial instruction in the aggregate must accomplish 
considerable salvage. What is probably most needed in the 
future development of this work is an increasing emphasis 
upon the actual measurement and interpretation of the men- 
tal factors which are at the basis of the academic backward- 
ness. These factors are so diverse and variable that they often 
need special psychological investigation before they can be 
evaluated. A supervisory assistant competent to conduct such 
elementary psychological inquiry could be of real service to 
the group of special teachers in the interpretation and man- 
agement of their backward pupils. 

The Superior Child 

The superior child is more in danger of retardation than the 
dullard. Whether the provisions for the superior child should 
be of the same extent and of the same character as those en- 
joyed by the backward pupil is a question. Although mental 
measurements show that superior children are just about as 



SUPEEIOE AND ATYPICAL MENTALITY 45 

numerous as subaverage and deficient children, it is unsafe at 
present to make sweeping generalizations. It is certain, how- 
ever, that the superior child should be more definitely recog- 
nized by teachers and school authorities. It is very significant, 
in our mental survey, that while the elementary teachers sus- 
pected 725 children as being mentally deficient; these same 
teachers regarded only 45 children as being superior. One 
child in 33 reported as possibly deficient and only one child 
in 527 reported as superior ! Whatever else this may mean, it 
proves that superior children are in need of more general 
recognition. (En a democracy which is so constantly demanding 
numerous leaders a greater premium must be placed in the 
public school upon mental ability. This great social problem 
of picking and training leaders begins in the elementary 
school. 

Many superior children are of the rapid promotion type, 
and the local summer school provisions for doubling a grade, 
are a definite benefit to this type when systematic hygienic 
safeguards are not neglected. 

For other children of superior intelligence and distinctive 
talent the problem is one of providing more abundant opportu- 
nities for expression and assimilation. For them the educa- 
tional diet is far too limited and needs a generous addition 
of growth protein. Modified school schedules and special sup- 
plementary programs for selected pupils are needed to meet 
the situation. Regular teachers could do more to make such 
rearrangements, but they need guidance and detailed sug- 
gestions which a special supervisory assistant in this field of 
auxiliary education could organize. There are group methods 
which need consideration; but the problem of the superior 
child will to no small extent remain one of individualization 
under expert guidance. 

The Delinquent Child 

The reduction of juvenile delinquency and the ultimate 
reduction of adult crime is one of the most serious tasks of 
the public school. An analysis of the admissions to the 
Cheshire Reformatory shows that over 40 per cent of the 
offenders started their criminal career before the age of four- 
teen while still of school age, and that truancy was very often 
the first danger signal in the development of such a career. 

( 



46 EXCEPTIONAL CHILDREN 

The special room for truants and disciplinary cases meets 
part of the problem; but there are decided limitations to the 
group treatment of delinquent children. There will always be 
a large majority of cases which must be handled in regular 
classrooms, and which must be attacked as complicated in- 
dividual problems from a variety of angles, by several per- 
sons and one or more social agencies taking consultation 
together. The importance of medical and psychological study 
of all serious cases of delinquency should be recognized, and 
the assistance of clinics and social agencies should be more 
frequently utilized. 

One of the most promising methods of attacking the prob- 
lem of crime is through improved provisions for all mentally 
subnormal schoolboys and schoolgirls. It is well known that 
one out of every four or five of our criminal population is 
mentally defective. We are therefore striking the source when 
we establish special classes for mentally subnormal school 
children. 

The Physically Infeeior Child 

Certain kinds of physical handicap and inferiority can be 
successfully handled by group methods. This has been amply 
demonstrated in the work of the two open-air classes. These 
classes, must, of course, be ultimately increased in number. 

The undernourished child is in danger of neglect because 
he is likely to be considered "well." Even without the use of 
measuring rule and weighing balance, 275 children were re- 
ported as "seriously undernourished, poorly developed and 
easily fatigued. ' ' Many of these cases are so serious that they 
demand a special educational policy. Nutrition clinics and 
classes would best meet the situation. The simple procedure 
of weighing and measuring each child to determine 
whether he is habitually 7 per cent or more under weight 
for his height would help to identify many cases of malnutri- 
tion. Such weighing and measuring should be a universal 
school practice. Although this problem is fundamentally medi- 
cal, so much of the work is educational in character that it may 
well be considered in connection with the total problem of 
special classes and auxiliary educational provisions. 



fed 1913) 
a, estab- 



Room 



917) 
ished 



SUPERIOR AND ATYPICAL MENTALITY 47 

The Speech-Defective Child 

There are two major types of speech defect — stuttering and 
lisping. In stuttering there is a spasmodic or uncontrolled 
repetition of words, syllables, or initial sounds, usually con- 
sonants. Lisping is a faulty articulation, slurring, mispro- 
nunciation or substitution of sounds. Teachers were asked to 
report only cases of very faulty articulation and of stuttering. 
The total number of cases reported was 302, or 1 in 78. 

Evidently this is a problem of no small dimensions. Even if 
we disregard lisping altogether, there are probably fifty 
severe cases of stuttering in the New Haven schools, and a 
still greater number of milder cases. 

These stuttering children are sadly in need of public school 
attention; for, as a rule, they are neglected both by parents 
and physicians. Only those familiar with the subject can ap- 
preciate how serious this handicap is, what suffering it causes, 
and what effects it produces on the more sensitive child. Stut- 
tering is a disease, often associated with serious mental and 
nervous complications, but it is definitely curable, and re- 
sponds to corrective training. 

Such training is largely a skilled and specialized phonic 
instruction which can be given in public school classes. For 
many years European public schools have provided this 
speech-corrective work ; and it will some day be considered a 
natural function of schools in this country. New Haven should 
have at least one teacher-expert to conduct speech-corrective 
classes and to train selected teachers who would assist in part- 
time work with groups or individuals. It would take a rela- 
tively small amount of money and of organization to remove 
the neglect from which this group of children suffers. Not 
only would the speech-defective children benefit, but the stand- 
ards of spoken English throughout the schools would prob- 
ably be favorably affected. It really ought to be part of our 
Americanization program to raise those standards and to 
insist on more abundant and purer conversational English in 
the kindergarten and primary grades. Systematic attention to 
spoken English in these lower grades would also probably 
reduce the number of stutterers and lispers in the higher 
grades. 



£Z 




48 EXCEPTIONAL CHILDREN 

Other Types op Exceptional Children 

The remaining types of exceptional pupils reported in our 
survey census for the most part constitute purely individual 
problems, which in the absence of a special supervisor must be 
solved by the regular teacher. If the teacher will consult 
parents, physician, principal and clinics she may often work 
out some solution of the more difficult cases. Certainly adjust- 
ments and readjustments must often be made, if the semi-deaf, 
the semi-blind, the epileptic and hypernervous child is to re- 
main comfortably and advantageously in school. It is possible 
that the segregation of the near blind in one or more groups 
under a special teacher would be the best solution. It may even 
be advisable for the board of education to consider the estab- 
lishment of a lip-reading class for the younger deaf children 
who now find difficulty in entering an overcrowded state insti- 
tution, and who often could be advantageously retained in 
their own homes if the city schools provided the necessary 
instruction. 

The very nervous child, the occasional epileptic of relatively 
normal intelligence, and the occasional psychopathic child 
usually need a modified educational program. Eegular teach- 
ers should be encouraged to use the medical, psychomedical 
and social service facilities of the community in ameliorating 
the conditions of these children. Even though there may be 
no special classes for such children, the educational environ- 
ment should be adapted to them so far as it is humanly prac- 
ticable. Not to make the adaptation means neglect, and some- 
times actual injustice, to the exceptional child. 



CHAPTER FIVE 

SCHOOL PROVISIONS FOR MENTALLY 
DEFICIENT CHILDREN 

In this chapter we shall discuss the possibilities of develop- 
ing through the public school system, adequate community 
care of mentally deficient children and youth. These possibili- 
ties are well illustrated by the conditions in New Haven. A 
few years ago there were no special provisions whatever for 
mentally deficient pupils. Now about one-half of the total num- 
ber are being cared for in seven special classes and in one 
special school, all under the auspices of the local board of 
education. This is an excellent start. There is, however, no 
logical justification for caring for only half of the full quota. 
The present provisions may be gradually extended in such a 
way as not to make excessive demands on the budget. If dur- 
ing the next four years New Haven will each year add the 
equivalent of four special classes, the fundamental school 
provisions will by the end of that period be fairly complete. 
Such additions should not, however, be haphazardly made, but 
should be guided by a predetermined working policy. 

A Plan foe New Haven 

In the accompanying map we have indicated a plan which 
will take care of the requirements of the whole city in an 
equitable way, and also leave room for still further growth. 
The scheme represents a combination of the special classes 
and special schools, and favors the vocational education of all 
the higher grade children. A similar scheme, subject, of course, 
to local variations, would apply to any city community. 

The proposals may be summarized as follows : 

1. The double rooms for deficient pupils at Welch School 
and Dante School should be continued. 

2. The double room at Dixwell should be continued, but it 
is suggested that the two regular classes now in this building 



50 EXCEPTIONAL CHILDREN 

be removed elsewhere as soon as possible, so that the entire 
building may be converted into a graded four room special 
class school. Domestic services and simple household and 
office occupations might be made special objects of training. 

3. The single room now in the Edwards Street School should 
be abandoned, and moved into a Home-School of three or four 
classes located somewhere in the neighborhood of the Skinner 
School. It is recommended that a suitable building with ample 
yard and garden space be found and remodeled to suit this 
purpose. This would be economical and would even have cer- 
tain advantages over a brand-new structure built along con- 
ventional lines. The informality and domesticity of arrange- 
ments which would naturally result from the adaptation of 
one of these old New Haven dwellings, would be a positive 
asset in the proper treatment of a group of defective children. 
It is desirable to make a frank departure from the academic 
features of an ordinary schoolroom. 

4. The proposal to establish a special school in the Fair 
Haven district is at the present writing no longer a proposal. 
The board of education has with commendable foresight pur- 
chased an old roomy residence on Grand Avenue, and under 
the devoted direction of the supervisor of special classes this 
has been speedily converted into an attractive special school 
for mentally subnormal children, — The Fair Haven Training 
School. A hundred children are now in regular attendance; 
there is a waiting list, and children of normal intelligence have 
actually petitioned their elders to be permitted to enjoy its 
educational advantages, — the cooking, sewing, woodwork, 
handicrafts and gardening. 

Practically without exception the parents of subnormal and 
problematic children have co-operated in the organization of 
the school, and the neighborhood is developing a local pride 
in this new educational institution. There are even indications 
that in certain cases parents will change their residence and 
foster children will be placed in near-by homes in order to 
make the school accessible. England is beginning the practice 
of placing small groups of handicapped children like the 
crippled or deaf in family homes near public schools where 
these children can get more favorably and more economically 
the same special training which they might otherwise have to 
receive in some residential institution. This arrangement has 



PROVISIONS FOR MENTALLY DEFICIENT 51 

great possibilities and invites co-operation between state and 
city. 

5. A double room similar to that at Dante could be estab- 
lished in the neighborhood of Oak and Howe Streets. 

6. One special class or double room should be established in 
the Saint Francis Orphan Asylum. This step should unques- 
tionably be taken in the near future. The problem of the child 
who is at once dependent and defective is of peculiar impor- 
tance. Such a child cannot ordinarily be recommended for 
adoption nor can such a child be as safely placed out as can 
the child of normal mentality. He is always in need of special 
protection or supervision, if not of actual custody. Unfor- 
tunately, in the very nature of things, mental deficiency is 
often closely associated with dependency and neglect. The 
survey findings reported on page 40 indicate this association. 
In another study,* definite mental deficiency was found to be 
about seventeen times more frequent among the New Haven 
County Home children than among unselected children. Dull 
or borderline mentality was over three times as prevalent. 
Conditions in this Home led last year to the establishment of 
a special class for the feeble-minded group. There are now 
twenty children in this class, with others waiting for admis- 
sion. Conditions in the Saint Francis Orphan Asylum call for 
a similar measure. Such action should benefit not only the 
deficient children, but leave more energy for the teaching of 
their less handicapped companions. 

7. The old Carlisle School building should be converted into 
a Shop School ; which ultimately might accommodate as many 
as sixty subnormal youths, and provide them with elementary 
industrial training. There is a decided need for such provision 
in the New Haven school system. After a child has been in a 
special class, perhaps under one teacher, for several years, 
and has entered well into his teens, it is too much to expect 
that the same equipment and same program shall carry him 
along a few years more. The ordinary special class is best 
suited for providing general training to children of younger 
and intermediate age ; but for youths with muscular strength, 
physical bulk and moderate mental capacity a vocational or 
prevocational type of training soon becomes very urgent. The 

* Arnold Gesell : Feeble-minded Children in the County Home Schools of 
Connecticut. State Board of Education, Hartford, 1918. 



52 EXCEPTIONAL CHILDBEN 

Boardman Apprentice School is hardly in a position to fur- 
nish such training ; although it has succeeded admirably with 
many dull-witted boys and a few feeble-minded ones. It is 
conceivable that rearrangements and readjustments could be 
made within Boardman to take care of a subnormal group of 
moderate size. Such adaptations, particularly, in individual 
cases are to be encouraged. But for many reasons a special 
Shop School for the more promising subnormal and border- 
line youth, particularly the boys, is to be strongly recom- 
mended. 

In the first place such a school would introduce the element 
of promotion into the special class system. It would have a 
beneficial effect upon the special class. It would enable us 
better to discover the vocational capacities of many pupils; 
and would certainly enable them better to hold their own 
in selected occupations. Such special schools would therefore 
become an instrument for vocational guidance, and an aid to 
actual vocational placement and supervision. Educationally 
the aim of a Shop School like the one under consideration, 
should be not only to afford specific training, but to furnish 
preliminary experience in several kinds of shop and factory 
work, — a general, prevocational form of training which has 
proved itself to be valuable. Socially, the Shop School prom- 
ises to become a lever for co-operative relations with industry, 
which will enable us to keep in the community an increasing 
number of higher grade youths, safe, happy and partially self- 
supporting. 

8. A Farm School should be established on Bassett Street 
near Dixwell. This school could accommodate one or two classes 
for younger children and also provide the means for an agri- 
cultural kind of training for children over fourteen or sixteen. 
That the feeble-minded are most happy and successful in farm 
occupations is a truth, freely recognized, but scantily applied. 
Farm colonies are an amazing success with adult feeble- 
minded. We need but to modify and educationally adapt the 
farm colony idea, to make it a most useful feature in a com- 
plete system for the care and training of the juvenile feeble- 
minded. New Haven has a splendid opportunity not only to 
accomplish this result, but to make a demonstration which 
would be a source of local pride and an object lesson for other 
communities. 



PEO VISIONS FOR MENTALLY DEFICIENT 53 

A General Program and Policy 

It is admitted by competent authorities that mental defi- 
ciency is a leading social problem. A constructive program for 
the public school care of deficient children and youth is indis- 
pensable for the control of the problem ; and is entirely in line 
with the ever expanding sociological functions of our public 
educational machinery. The public school really constitutes 
the most promising, and in the long run, the most economical 
instrument for the social control of this great human and com- 
munity problem. We prefer not to call mental deficiency a 
menace, because, sincerely attacked, it yields very definitely to 
management and control. It can only be sincerely attacked by 
means of a broadly conceived program and a consecutive 
policy. 

As an aid to the visualization of such a policy, we have 
drawn up a summary which represents the essential features in 
a complete program for the care of the mentally deficient chil- 
dren and youth in a community like New Haven. The financial 
burden of such a program is by no means prohibitive. Indeed 
in the long run there will be an actual economic gain if we 
convert the higher grade of feeble-minded into a controlled 
asset, and there will be an incalculable benefit to the large army 
of normal children, whose educational advantages are bound 
to improve as a reflex result of the very measures which we 
take in behalf of subnormal children. 

These measures, which properly related would constitute a 
complete constructive program, may be discussed under six 
headings. 

A Model Program for the Community Care of 
Mentally Deficient School Children 

1. Classification of Exceptional School Children 
School enumeration of handicapped pupils 
Psycho-Clinical Examination 

(a) Pre-School 

(b) School Entrance 

(c) Referred Problematic Cases 
Mental Tests and Surveys 
Progressive Records of Exceptional Pupils 



54 EXCEPTIONAL CHILDEEN 

2. Special Programs for Exceptional Children 

Assistant Supervisor to initiate and supervise indi- 
vidual programs for educationally exceptional children 
in regular classrooms 

Group Conferences to consult in regard to individual 
cases 

3. Special Classes 

(a) for mentally deficient 

(b) for borderline pupils 

To provide general training and to rehabilitate selected 
cases which may be restored to the grades 

4. Special Vocational Schools 

Shop School 
Farm School 
Domestic School 

Trade School for Selected High-Grade and Borderline 
Cases 

5. Vocational After Care and Guidance 

After care supervisor 

Follow-up records 

Consultations with parents, employers and social workers 

Voluntary after care committee 

Vocational Probation by Juvenile Court 

6. Professional Training of Personnel 

Special Training Course for Special Class Teachers 
Regular Conferences with Supervisors and Assistant 

Supervisors 
Co-operation with Social Agencies 

1. Classification of All Exceptional Childbed 

Seriously exceptional pupils of all types should be discov- 
ered by the public school and placed on record and under some 
kind of supervision. By means of an annual or biennial census, 
similar to that used in the present survey, valuable records 
could be accumulated. Mental testing by the supervisor of 
special classes for subnormal children will aid in the task of 
classification. Problematic cases should be referred to medical 



PROVISIONS FOR MENTALLY DEFICIENT 55 

and psycho-medical clinics for clinical examination. Ultimately 
there should be provisions for the discovery of exceptional 
children during the pre-school age, and for a thoroughgoing 
examination of all children on school entrance. 

Child classification is the prerequisite of child hygiene. 
Measurement and classification of material are essential to all 
engineering, whether mechanical or human. A biographical 
health and development record should cumulatively follow the 
exceptional child in his progress through the schools and 
should pursue him some distance on his discharge. 

2. Individual Programs and Supervision for Educationally 
Exceptional Pupils 

Psychological classification leads to the recognition of the 
special needs of selected pupils. For many high-grade, border- 
line and deviating cases special educational programs could 
be instituted in regular classrooms. An expert supervisor, 
with administrative skill, would be necessary for the initia- 
tion and supervision of such programs. A special class teacher 
reaches only fifteen subnormal pupils. It would be sound and 
economical policy to seek out those children who can be ad- 
vantageously retained in regular classrooms, if special educa- 
tional readjustments are made. We cannot simply let such 
pupils float along in the regular rooms ; but by the device of 
supervised, specialized programs commitment to special 
classes could in numerous cases be deferred or avoided. It is 
recommended that one expert teacher be appointed, with the 
title of assistant supervisor of special children, who, under 
the direction of the present supervisor, shall organize special 
individual programs for selected exceptional pupils of all 
types who are not assigned to special classes. 

3. Special Classes 

The special class is an indispensable feature in any scheme 
for the public school care of deficient pupils. It is a boon not 
only to the subnormal child, but to the whole public school 
system. The main purpose of the special class should be to 
furnish the pupil general training, largely of a non-academic 
character. Habits of deportment and motor control are particu- 
larly important. Manual activities and physical training, 



56 EXCEPTIONAL CHILDBEN 

are essential; the three R's are secondary and for the most 
part purely "cultural." Children should be assigned to the 
special class as early as possible to derive the most from the 
advantages it offers. Ideally they should not remain in the 
average special class over five years, but should be transferred 
to a school where the work is more definitely prevocational or 
actually vocational. Sometimes, it is both feasible and desir- 
able to assign a child to a special class for a short period and 
then return him to the grades. Borderline, doubtful and atypi- 
cal pupils may be assigned as probationary or observation 
cases. It would indeed be very advantageous if one special 
class in the hands of a properly qualified teacher could be 
used as an observation station for the handling of such cases. 
This class could also be utilized as an aid in the development 
of individual programs for exceptional children who are not 
permanently assigned to special classes. 

The method which New Haven has favored in special class 
organization is the double special class. This is an excellent 
arrangement. It has some of the advantages of a special 
school. It permits a certain degree of departmentalization in 
the conduct of the work. Two special teachers working co- 
operatively in adjoining rooms can group and regroup and 
interchange their children in the course of the daily or weekly 
program. This permits a maximum use of equipment, it makes 
possible a larger amount of group instruction, it allows two 
teachers to supplement each other, and usually makes the 
work more pleasant for both. The double room arrangement 
has worked so successfully in New Haven that it should not be 
abandoned. It is worthy of imitation in other communities. 

4. Vocational Training 

It must never be forgotten that the great majority of the 
feeble-minded are vocationally competent, and may be con- 
verted by the community from liabilities into economic assets. 
They will never be 100 per cent efficient, but fractions of effi- 
ciency as low as 50 per cent are probably entitled to conserva- 
tion, when all things are considered. The only hope of con- 
trolling the problem lies in the direction of vocational training 
and supervision. Therefore, special schools like the Farm 
School, Shop School and Home School already described are 



PROVISIONS FOR MENTALLY DEFICIENT 57 

necessary to a completed public policy. Special classes should 
train all the higher grade children for schools of this type or 
for special courses within the local trade school, or within se- 
lected local industries where special training and working con- 
ditions may be deliberately provided. England during the war 
successfully placed and supervised some of her feeble-minded 
youth in approved industries. We may do as much for our 
morons in times of peace. 

5. Vocational Afteb Caee and Guidance 

A mentally deficient youth may be able to earn wages, but 
he usually is not able to save them or to spend them with 
ordinary prudence. For this reason alone, — and there are sev- 
eral other important reasons, — the community cannot afford 
to withhold the external support, which it willingly supplied 
while the youth was still a schoolboy. In a certain sense the 
mentally deficient cannot graduate from school; they cannot 
earn a working certificate ; they cannot shift for themselves. 

They therefore need vocational guidance in a very vigorous 
sense. They must not only be placed properly in an industry 
or an occupation, but they must be kept under a form of voca- 
tional probation and supervision. The goal should be to keep 
as many subnormal youths as possible in their local commu- 
nity, happy, secure, productive. This goal can be reached if we 
abandon the present practice of laissez faire, and substitute a 
sincere policy of after care, appointing an after care director 
to organize this important social service, and to secure the 
co-operation of parents, employers, and social welfare agen- 
cies in the solution of the problems. Legislation may be needed 
to carry out the full requirements of the situation, but much 
can be done by local responsibility and initiative ; and also by 
readjustments within certain suitable industries in New 
Haven. The feeble-minded cannot adapt themselves to their 
community ; the community must therefore adapt itself so far 
as is reasonable and humane to them. 

A proportion of the mentally deficient pupils ought, in 
time, to be transferred to a state institution or colony, but how 
small this proportion should be, will never be realized until 
the community begins to keep follow-up records of all men- 
tally deficient school children, appoints an after care visitor, 



58 EXCEPTIONAL CHILDEEN 

and organizes after care devices for the purpose of doing full 
justice to them when they leave school. This is not paternal- 
ism; but a kind of parentalism, in spirit with the peculiar 
needs of the feeble-minded, and in harmony with the con- 
stantly expanding function of the public school as an instru- 
ment of social adaptation. 

6. Professional Training of Personnel 

It is the special class teachers who from day to day will 
actually take care of the feeble-minded children. Their com- 
bined devotion and activities in this exacting work represent 
a social service which receives perhaps too little recognition. 
This service will probably be more highly esteemed when a 
complete program and policy are undertaken in behalf of the 
feeble-minded. Then will the actual significance of the work 
of the special class teacher come into clearer view. Meanwhile, 
everything should be done to insure the actual and potential 
value of her services. 

It must be recognized that her work needs special profes- 
sional qualifications, and special professional training. A 
salary bonus or preferred salary rating has been adopted in 
cities where special class work is well established. It has been 
demonstrated that an intensive course of one month, such as 
was given last spring at New Haven, can do much to supply 
the special training for teachers who have natural qualifica- 
tions and who are interested in special class work. This course 
was given under very favorable conditions and must be consid- 
ered the minimum for professional preparations. It is recom- 
mended that the equivalent of this course be arranged for, 
at least biennially, to maintain the supply of special class 
teachers. 

The professional training should be continued while the 
special class teachers are in service. They should be under 
supervision, and there should be regular meetings and con- 
ferences of a professional character throughout the school 
year. The establishment of special schools and of the supple- 
mentary agencies described in our complete program, is bound 
to have a stimulating effect upon special class work. It opens 
to the special class teacher the possibility of promotion, and it 
makes more conspicuous the social aspects of the public school 
care of the feeble-minded. 



PEO VISIONS FOR MENTALLY DEFICIENT 59 

All engaged in the training and the guidance of exceptional 
children are performing a teaching and social service of a 
distinctive kind. While the importance of this work needs no 
exaggeration, it should be safeguarded by putting the whole 
personnel on the highest possible professional basis. The staff 
itself can do much by their own co-operative efforts, through 
conference and round-table discussion to improve their pro- 
fessional standards and outlook. 

The teachers of regular classes, also, can, by their sympathy 
and co-operation, do much to place the special class work on 
its proper footing. When they, and the bulk of the educational 
leaders in the community, frankly recognize the ultimate 
significance of this work, a complete public school policy in 
behalf of all educationally exceptional children will seem less 
visionary. Such a vision is, after all, but a practical ideal, 
which beckons our sincere support. 

Complete public school provisions for our mentally deficient 
children and youth are financially possible. Educationally, 
such provisions are sound. Socially, they are necessary. Legis- 
lation in several states of our union is already attempting to 
make these school provisions obligatory, and is supplying 
state funds and state supervision to that end. The problem 
will, however, always remain to a large extent a local one, de- 
pendent for its solution upon the pride and enterprise of 
local communities. So far as New Haven is concerned, her 
peculiar industrial, social welfare, public health and educa- 
tional advantages, conspire to make possible a distinctive 
demonstration of what a public school system can do in coping 
with this great community problem. 



CHAPTER SIX 

EXCEPTIONAL SCHOOL CHILDREN AND 
STATE POLICY 

The desirability of developing a public policy with respect 
to handicapped and otherwise exceptional school children was 
one of the factors which led in 1919 to the enactment of a law 
creating the Connecticut Commission on Child Welfare. This 
Commission has reported to the General Assembly a newly 
wrought codification of laws. Certain principles and provi- 
sions of this Children's Code are significant in the present 
connection because they represent the formulation of a con- 
structive state policy with respect to handicapped school 
children. Because this legal formulation suggests in concrete 
terms the methods by which child welfare administration and 
school administration can be brought into more vital relation, 
it will be profitable here to summarize the fundamental pro- 
visions of the Code. 

A public policy with respect to handicapped children must 
finally represent a co-operative effort of both state and com- 
munity in their behalf. The Connecticut Children's Code em- 
phasizes the principle of local community responsibility, but 
it also indicates the dependency of this principle upon ade- 
quate state organization and authoritative state supervision. 
Although the major responsibility for the actual care and 
maintenance of dependent, delinquent and defective children 
rests with the family and the local political unit, the ultimate 
legal creator and guardian of the rights of these children is 
the state, and the state is therefore obliged to develop a 
machinery for the equitable enforcement of those rights and 
for the application of minimum standards of child welfare 
and education. The state is also more profoundly concerned 
than the community with reducing the causes and conse- 
quences of all forms of physical, mental and social defective- 
ness. 



STATE POLICY 61 

The Children's Code accordingly proposes the organization 
of the following agencies: 1. A supervisory state bureau of 
child welfare. 2. A state-wide system of juvenile courts with 
trained probation officers under state supervision. 3. A divi- 
sion of special education and standards as a department of the 
state board of education to foster provisions for all types of 
exceptional school children. These agencies are deliberately 
made to articulate with each other and with an existing De- 
partment of Child Hygiene under the State Board of Health. 
They are all designed to strengthen rather than to supplant 
existing local agencies ; to define and extend the responsibili- 
ties of these local agencies, and to co-operate with them in 
making their present work more effective. 

Among all these local agencies, the public school is the 
most inclusive, the most extensive, the most pervasive. It is 
found in the remotest rural corners as well as in all the vil- 
lages and cities of the state. With its hundreds of buildings 
and its thousands of teachers, its public property and public 
personnel, it constitutes our greatest child welfare institution. 
It has a vast unrealized power in the so-called field of child 
welfare. The recommendations of the Children's Code give 
recognition to this potential power, and one of its funda- 
mental proposals is that which insures the gradual extension 
of the principle of compulsory education for the benefit of 
handicapped and defective school children. 

This proposal is formulated in the following law to estab- 
lish a Division of Special Education and Standards under the 
State Board of Education. 



AN ACT TO ESTABLISH A DIVISION OF SPECIAL EDUCATION AND 
STANDAEDS UNDEK THE STATE BOAED OF EDUCATION 

Section I. Special division of State Board of Education established. The Com- 
missioner of Education shall be authorized under this act to organize a Depart- 
ment or Division of Special Education and Standards and to assign agents and 
inspectors for carrying out the duties of said division, in accordance with 
regulations approved by the State Board of Education. The chief officer or director 
of this division shall be appointed by the Commissioner of Education, with the 
approval of the State Board of Education, and shall be subject to the Com- 
missioner of Education. 

Section II. Supervision by said division. This division shall have general 
supervision of the education of all children from four to sixteen years of age 
who are legal charges of state institutions for children or of any child-earing 
institution or agency licensed by the Bureau of Child Welfare ; and of all children 



62 EXCEPTIONAL CHILDREN 

who are receiving instruction in special classes or special schools in accordance with 
provisions hereinafter described. The duties and activities of this division shall 
so far as possible be co-ordinated with the administration of the laws relating to 
attendance, employment and instruction of children, as specified in chapters 130 
and 140 of the General Statutes, or as these chapters may be amended, and in 
accordance with the powers therein assigned to the State Board of Education. 

Section III. Enumeration of exceptional school children. The Division of Special 
Education and Standards shall have power to make and enforce regulations con- 
cerning the enumeration of children and the keeping of school registers, to the 
end that there shall be an annual report to the Commissioner of Education of all 
children four and under sixteen years of age, who by reason of mental or physical 
handicap appear to be incapable of receiving proper benefit from instruction in 
ordinary schools and who for their own or the social welfare need a very special 
adjustment of educational arrangements and methods. Such children shall be 
designated as educationally exceptional children, and the terms special education, 
special classes, special schools, auxiliary teachers, auxiliary education, and special 
educational provisions, as used in this act, shall be interpreted to apply to the 
training and instruction of such educationally exceptional children. 

On the basis of the aforesaid enumeration of educationally exceptional children, 
the Director of the Division of Special Education and Standards shall advise with 
local school officials and any other responsible officers of schools regarding the 
establishment of special educational provisions for such exceptional children. 

Section IV. When child may be excluded from school. No educationally excep- 
tional child may be disbarred from school attendance except on the approval of 
the Director of the Division of Special Education and Standards and of the 
Commissioner of Education; and every child whose exclusion is thus approved 
shall immediately be brought to the attention of the Bureau of Child Welfare, 
and said Bureau shall report the case with recommendations to the selectmen of 
the town in which the child is legally resident; and shall take any further action 
necessary to insure adequate protection and training for the child. 

Section V. Special classes. On the application of any school district board or 
committee of any local board of education, the Commissioner of Education may 
authorize such local board or committee to establish and maintain within its 
corporate limits a special class or a special school or an auxiliary teacher for the 
training and care of educationally exceptional children. 

Section VI. State aid for special classes. When these special educational pro- 
visions shall have been organized in accordance with reasonable minimum stand- 
ards under regulations of the State Board of Education, the Commissioner of 
Education shall certify to the comptroller as due to each board of education 
maintaining such special educational provisions the following sums of money 
from the State Treasury, which sums shall be over and above any moneys other- 
wise allotted to said board of education: 

(a) An annual sum not exceeding thirty-five per cent of the annual salary 
of any special teacher who is giving full time instruction to not less than five 
blind and nearly blind pupils; or to five deaf and nearly deaf pupils. 

(b) An annual sum not exceeding thirty per cent of the annual salary of any 
special teacher who is giving full time instruction to not less than ten mentally 
defective children or to not less than twelve crippled children; or to not less 
than fifteen speech defective children. 

(c) An annual sum not exceeding thirty per cent of the annual salary of any 
auxiliary teacher who gives her full teaching time to the special training, instruc- 
tion and guidance of at least fifteen educationally exceptional pupils of any 
class whatsoever. 

It shall be lawful for two or more schoool districts to combine in the employ- 



STATE POLICY 63 

ment of such auxiliary teacher and they shall share equitably in the state aid 
thus allotted, in accordance with regulations of the State Board of Education. 

Section VII. Petition for special classes. It shall be mandatory upon any 
board of school visitors, town school committee or board of education or upon 
the board of any consolidated school district to provide an auxiliary or special 
teacher and special equipment for the instruction of educationally exceptional 
children residing in the corporate limits of said district or said consolidated 
district, when the State Board of Education has been petitioned to establish such 
special educational provisions by the parents or guardians of eight blind and 
nearly blind children; or of eight deaf and nearly deaf children; or of fifteen 
crippled children; or of twelve mentally deficient children. 

The Commissioner of Education and the Director of the Division of Special 
Education and Standards are empowered to initiate such petitions whenever in 
their judgment the need of special educational provisions is urgent, and they 
shall to this end confer with school officers and other responsible school officials. 

Such petitions shall be received and valid only when they provide explanatory 
data regarding the children in whose behalf the petition is drawn and when such 
data are in accordance with specifications prescribed by the Division of Special 
Education and Standards, and approved by the State Board of Education. 

Section VIII. Further duties of division. It shall be the duty of the Division 
of Special Education and Standards to furnish guidance and assistance in the 
mental and educational measurement of all educationally exceptional children in 
all schools and institutions under the educational supervision of the State Board 
of Education with a view to improve the classification and treatment of educa- 
tionally exceptional children. 

Section IX. Division to furnish school reports. The Division of Special Educa- 
tion and Standards shall also, with the counsel of the Bureau of Child Welfare, 
prescribe forms and methods to be used in reporting the psycho-educational status 
of all school children brought to the Juvenile Court as provided in Section 4 of 
Division III of that act; which psycho-educational or school report shall sum- 
marize the child's school career and attainments and shall embody a measure or 
estimate of his mental capacity to profit by experience and by instruction. 

Section X. Undernourished school children. It shall be obligatory upon school 
officials of every public school and every private school under public supervision 
to ascertain what pupils, if any, on the school register are chronically below the 
minimum standard of weight normal for their height and age; and to this end 
school officials shall require the annual measurement of height and weight of each 
child in accordance with regulations to be prescribed by the Division of Special 
Education and Standards and approved by the State Board of Education. To the 
parents or guardians of each such subnormally underweight child there shall be 
sent a letter or statement approved by the Commissioner of Education and the 
Commissioner of Health, which letter or statement shall contain recommendations 
and advice with respect to measures which, if taken, may ameliorate or remove 
the physical handicap of said child. 

A significant feature of the proposed law is that every 
child whether handicapped or not has a presumptive right to 
attend public school and to remain in his community after a 
legal term of compulsory education. It will be noticed that the 
contemplated Bureau of Child Welfare and the activities of 
the Juvenile Court and the probation system will operate in 
the same direction, namely, to keep all children, so far as 



64 EXCEPTIONAL CHILDREN 

possible, under the immediate protection of their own families 
and their own public schools and their own communities. 
Home, school and community are regarded as the normal en- 
vironment of all but extremely exceptional children. 

It is unnecessary to describe in detail the administrative or- 
ganization and duties of the Bureau of Child Welfare and the 
Juvenile Court system. The contemplated bureau might be 
organized under a department of public welfare with a com- 
missioner appointed by the director of that department and 
nine deputies appointed by the commissioner. The bureau 
would have general supervision of all child-caring work in the 
state, including the licensing of child-caring institutions and 
agencies and the establishment and enforcement of minimum 
standards of child care. Its agents would have standing in all 
Juvenile Courts and the bureau would have authority to place 
out on its own initiative any child who has not been placed 
within sixty days after court order. 

The commission recommends the establishment of a new set 
of courts to be known as Juvenile Courts, over fifty in num- 
ber, which will utilize the equipment and personnel of existing 
local courts. The Juvenile Court will have jurisdiction not only 
over delinquent children, but also over neglected, uncared for 
and dependent children. Its functions are to be preventive, 
regulative and supervisory. Every child coming before such 
a court will be assigned to an agent of the Bureau of Child 
Welfare who will thereafter be specifically charged with con- 
secutive supervision of the assigned child's career. To supply 
the probation work essential to a court of this character, the 
commission recommends the establishment of a mandatory 
probation service for all Juvenile Courts, the chief probation 
officer to be the head of the Bureau of Child Welfare. 

It is evident from the above summary that we have in these 
agencies a co-operating and co-ordinating mechanism which 
would give a new and most significant status to all exceptional 
school children. The official recognition of this status becomes 
especially important when handicapped school children are 
about to become candidates for employment. The presumption 
in the typical American commonwealth is that every child has 
the right and obligation to attend school and that the state 
shall determine when and whether he is ready for employment. 
This fundamental relation of the state to children affects in a 



STATE POLICY 65 

peculiar manner the mentally subnormal pupil who cannot 
profit by ordinary instruction and who cannot compete on 
equal terms with his fellows when he becomes of working age. 
This exceptional status of the subnormal creates an almost 
paradoxical situation. The school cannot exclude the moron on 
the one hand, and it cannot graduate him on the other. The 
only solution is a modification of law and practice which will 
safeguard the subnormal when he leaves school. 

The Connecticut Children 's Code meets this situation in the 
following proposal relating to the probation of defectives by 
the Juvenile Court. 

VOCATIONAL PKOBATION 

Section 9. Who May Petition; Petitions. Any Agent of the Bureau of Child 
Welfare or any representative of a child-caring institution or agency licensed by 
the Bureau of Child Welfare, or any reputable citizen may petition the judge of 
the Juvenile Court to establish supervision over or to commit to an institution any 
defective child or defective young person legally resident in the district of said 
court, who, in the judgment of the petitioner, is in need of protection and care 
for his own and for the public welfare. The petition shall set forth the facts 
necessary to bring such defective person within the purview of this act; where- 
upon the judge shall after investigation, if he deems the petition sufficient, order 
a hearing in chambers on the case, giving due notice of such hearing to persons 
interested in the petition, if there be any. 

Section 18. Courts may establish status of vocational probation. The judge of 
the Juvenile Court may on the basis of evidence presented in accordance with pro- 
visions hereinafter specified, declare in behalf of any defective child or young 
person, the status of Vocational Probation. This status shall not be declared when 
it is both expedient and desirable that the child or young person adjudged defec- 
tive be committed to an institution. The court may, however, at its discretion, 
establish the status of Vocational Probation in lieu of commitment to an institu- 
tion when the child or person in question belongs to one or more of the following 
classes and is legally resident in the district over which the court exercises 
jurisdiction. 

(a) Any child over sixteen years of age or any young person who is adjudged 
to be defective but who is physically able to undertake, under reasonable non- 
institutional supervision, some useful or gainful occupation in his home or within 
the corporate limits of the district of the court. 

(b) Any child over sixteen years of age who has been declared dependent, 
uncared-for or neglected, but who, by reason of mental defect, needs special 
supervision if he is not committed to a public institution. 

(c) Any child who is over fourteen years of age, who has been adjudged 
mentally defective, who on the testimony of a reputable physician is of sound 
and competent physique, and who on the petition of his parent or guardian and of 
the principal or superintendent of the school which he attends is recommended 
for part or full time employment at some useful occupation. The petition shall be 
made on a form prescribed by the Division of Special Education and Standards of 
the State Board of Education and shall satisfy the judge that the child is actually 
defective and that his employment will be more favorable to his welfare than 
continuance in public or private school. 



66 EXCEPTIONAL CHILDBEN 

Section 19. Eegister of Vocational Probationers. The court shall keep a register 
of children and young persons for whom the status of Vocational Probation has 
been established. Such child or young person shall be legally known as a Vocational 
Eegistrant or Probationer. He shall be entitled to a certificate issued by the court 
which affirms this status, and describes the protection which the law aims to confer 
upon him. 

Section 20. Duty of probation officers with respect to Vocational Probationers. 
It shall be the duty of the probation officer attached to the court which has 
established the status of Vocational Probation, to exercise a general supervision 
over each such Vocational Probationer in his district, to aid the Probationer to 
secure suitable employment, to confer with his employer, his parents or guardians 
to the end that said Probationer shall not be committed to a state institution 
but remain, if possible, with safety in his community. To this end the probation 
officer may confer with other public officials and representative of local agencies, 
and he may delegate to such representatives power of oversight and guidance. 

He may also act as temporary guardian over the wages of said Probationer 
on the order of the court. The probation officer shall report quarterly to the court 
on a form prescribed by the Bureau of Child Welfare concerning all such Voca- 
tional Probationers, under his supervision, and whenever the report so justifies, 
the court may hold a hearing to determine whether the probation of said child 
or young person shall be continued or whether he shall be committed to an institu- 
tion or to some other agency for custody or guardianship. 

This is the proposed law. It represents an effort to formu- 
late a civic policy with reference to the most neglected phase 
in the care of the feeble-minded. We realize that a law even if 
adopted, "bakes us no bread." A status of vocational proba- 
tion for subnormal youth is not self -operative, it involves a 
system of safeguards, it assumes devoted probation officers, 
it assumes co-operative adjustments on the part of school 
officials and a new understanding among employers, foremen 
and forewomen, and social workers. It may mean personal and 
environmental rearrangements within selected industries and 
a new kind of vestibule school to meet the needs of subnormal 
workers. 

However, it is sound policy to unite the functions of moral 
and of vocational probation, and to bring the Juvenile Court 
and the public school into closer co-ordination. Court and 
school alike are local institutions of and for the people. Both 
should respond to the new demands of the state, go beyond 
their traditional sphere, and become active agencies for child 
welfare. 



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